


Things we said today

by varevare (varebanos)



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:44:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varebanos/pseuds/varevare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian said something. It's harder to fix than he'd like -but he really wants to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things we said today

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rahn (Rahndom)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rahndom/gifts).



> Warning: Unbetaed.

It had been a week.

Just a week. Not even seven full days, really. Barely a week. It was just fine. They had spent much longer without talking, before.

Except that before was before, and now was now. Damian had learned how to work with people. He knew insulting them wasn't good for a productive environment. He was even starting to feel bad over insulting him. He was a changed man!

If only he could explain all those things to Tim.

"Drake, I-"

But as usual -or at least, what was starting to become usual between them- Tim turned in his tracks and left before Damian could get within speaking distance.

It was preposterous just how difficult it was to find him alone.

With company it was no better, either. A couple of times he found him talking with Dick, and both times when Damian had walked up to them Tim had stopped talking and left faster than it seemed possible. And of course, people around meant Damian couldn't just run after him. Otherwise, he'd have to explain why he was so desperate to catch Tim.

Everybody would be mad at him if they knew the truth.

-

It had been a month, and Damian's mood was at a point between resigned and desperate. He didn't even remember what talking to Drake was like.

Not a pity, of course. It was great to not have to bear with his constant meddling in his missions or complaining about pet hair in his clothes. Damian didn't miss talking to him! At all!

He still wanted to return to talking terms with him, though. Tim wasn't completely useless. He was a rather good crimefighter, even. Damian could even admit he was starting to feel impressed by his ability to avoid him for so long. Plus, some people -mainly Pennyworth- were starting to notice something was amiss.

It was so hard, though. Their schedules didn't match at all, and there was no way for Damian to ask about Tim's without anybody noticing. Hacking his computer didn't work, and Tim had found all the cameras and microphones Damian had planted in his apartment before Damian could hear a single word from his mouth. A couple of times they had been at the same time in the cave, and Damian had seen Tim discuss things with the others. However, it was always just out of Damian's hearing range, specially between the sounds from the bats and the machinery.

The moment Damian moved closer, no matter how stealthy he was, Tim left.

Like just now.

Damian was starting to run out of ideas.

-

When the six months part ran past, Damian found himself looking through for home videos. He had realized he couldn't remember for sure Tim's voice anymore, and he needed to hear it again at that point.

For mission-related purposes, of course. One never knew when he'd need to imitate his voice to pass security.

All the recordings in the cave had been either erased, corrupted or altered. Damian wanted to think it had been some kind of coding error and not Tim purposefully getting back at him.

Fortunately, Alfred's small stash of home videos was intact. Of course. Even if Tim had wanted to be thorough, he wouldn't touch those. Damian's heart squeezed painfully when he saw there were no videos of him, but that was to be expected. Real son or not, he had been there for the shortest time, and undoubtedly he wasn't his favorite, but-

He wasn't there for that.

Taking the first video, he put it in the VCR. Stupid ancient machine. He was surprised it still worked.

As it turned out, there were no recent videos. The newest one was from when Tim was still in highschool, and it was... rather hilarious. His voice jumped. His hair was weirder than when they first met. It wasn't like the Tim he was used to, at all, but it was still obviously him. There was something in his mannerisms and the undertone of his voice that had remained the same.

At least, the same until six months before.

It brought memories. And, in an odd way, a sense of comfort.

Damian decided no one would care if he watched it again, so he hit rewind.

-

The anniversary of Damian's last fight with Tim was approaching. Damian had completely forgotten what it had been about. He only knew that he regretted the last sentence he'd said to Tim terribly. If he could go back in time, he'd slap himself.

Pity he couldn't tell Tim that, though.

He wondered if the others knew. Tim had to have told them! No one had said anything, but it was just too weird to imagine otherwise. Why wouldn't they know? Tim had nothing to be ashamed of or regret. That was Damian.

It was all Damian.

Tim was away on a mission, and Damian was completely alone in the cave. He'd had spent a lot of time there recently, looking for new voice files somewhere. Nothing worked, of course. So he had done a lot of thinking. About all the things he should have told Drake about, about all the things he wanted to tell him now. About the way he might spend the rest of his life without hearing Tim say good morning again.

His eyes had started to get misty. He couldn't see the screen like that. He sighed in frustration, but it came out more like a whimper.

Maybe he was getting sick. Yes, that was probably it.

He sighed again and rubbed his eyes to get rid of that weird mist. His hand came out wet. It hurt to breathe, so he took a shaky breath, and soon there was water falling from his eyes that he didn't know how to stop.

Just great.

"Damian?"

An unfamiliar voice called behind him. Damian wasn't in the mood to deal with any of his father's colleagues or anything of the sort, so he curled up more into the seat and tried to muffle the strange sounds coming from his mouth.

"Damian, what's wrong?" The voice approached. "Look at me. Are you hurt anywhere?"

Before Damian could make any movement, his chair was turned around and he came face to face with Tim.

The shock made the whimpers stop immediately, although tears kept falling from his eyes.

"Drake? You're here?"

"Yes, I'm here." Pulling from his sleeve, Tim used it to dry Damian's tears lightly. "Just tell me what's wrong, alright?"

"I- I thought you wouldn't talk to me ever again," Damian replied, and to his horror, his voice cracked over the last word. It was mortifying.

"Oh, Damian, I'm so sorry." Tim looked sheepishly at some point under Damian's eye. "That was childish. I won't..."

"I don't think your voice is disgusting! I'm sorry I said that! Stop being mad!"

Tim's worried expression disappeared with a snort.

"You can't help but to give orders around, can you, little prince? Don't worry, I'm not mad." Tim pressed a short kiss against Damian's forehead. "Sorry I kept it up for so long. I'm talking to you anymore, am I not? Don't cry."

"I'm not crying, you idiot!" Damian snarled, sniffling slightly. "Why would I cry about you, anyways?"

The corner of Tim's mouth lifted slightly. Moving away, he stood up straight and offered Damian his hand.

"Come on, it's time for Titus' walk. Want me to go with you?"

"Titus has all the gardens, he hardly needs walks," Damian grumbled in protest. And after a second of hesitation, he reached out and took Tim's hand.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is NOT intended to be shippy. Damian is 10-11 here. Based mostly on how Damian really, /really/ wants Tim to like him in canon.
> 
> Filling Rahn's prompt: In a fit or rage, Damian says: "WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP DRAKE! YOUR VOICE IS DISGUSTING!" So Tim stops talking to him. FOR A YEAR.
> 
> Hope you like, dear~


End file.
